Founded by Barath Akkihebbal and Akash Narain Mittal, the brand avoids any ingredient carrying an E number, betting clean-label appeal can win over health-conscious buyers
A Bengaluru-based ice cream brand, ELVN-ELVN, is trying to strip additives out of a category long dominated by preservatives, stabilisers, and synthetic sweeteners, built around a single rule: nothing with an E number goes in.
The firm commenced operations in 2024 when Barath Akkihebbal and Akash Narain Mittal decided to take advantage of their experiences in supply chain systems, procurement, and ice cream business. Following Akkihebbal’s recognition of his issues with gluten and lactose, the duo made commitment to two products called MILLET, a veggie product based on coconut and Indian millets sweetened using date, allulose, and monk fruit, and SELECT composed of dairy which is being produced using A2 cow milk products.
Eleven months, roughly 50 failed batches
After some of trial and error whereby in the process over fifty batches failed due to numerous trials and experiments, it was on February 2024 through to January 2025 that the duo started carrying out an expensive research on possible ingredient choices that could eventually replace sugar and chemical stabilizers with innovative natural alternatives. The firm secured a development contract with the National Institute of Food Technology Enterprise Management (NIFTEM-T) and carried out milling processes in South Bengaluru using raw materials sourced by the company.
Scaling carefully
The commercial production started in January 2025 and the company claims that the sales are growing at the rate of 50 percent month-on-month, with the product being sold through select retailers, cafés, and the Ownly delivery app in Bengaluru. The business has been financed through a government-backed micro food processing loan and capital from founders without any private investment.
What’s next
The next step for ELVN-ELVN is to expand the reach of its products in Bengaluru using the crowd-funded freezer model. The brand is now planning expansion into other cities in India like Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi NCR, and Pune and become a complete clean-label food brand.
